An empirically-based guideline for forensic skeletal trauma analysis and reporting

Forensic Skeletal Trauma Analysis: Scientific Foundation and Guide to Professional Practice provides a comprehensive guide to skeletal trauma analysis for forensic practitioners working in a medicolegal setting. Drawing on standards from the AAFS Academy Standards Board and NIST's Organization of Scientific Area Committees, this volume synthesizes best practice recommendations and standards for identifying, documenting, interpreting, and reporting antemortem and acute skeletal trauma.

The volume uses an interdisciplinary framework derived from the fields of forensic anthropology, biomechanical engineering, and medicine to examine current methods for high velocity projectile, blunt, and sharp force trauma skeletal analysis. It challenges the perception of trauma analysis as a subjective experience-based forensic endeavor through its critical evaluation of over half a century of skeletal trauma research. Current skeletal trauma interpretations are evaluated within the context of this empirical research and the evidence supporting them. The volume integrates this foundational research with national standards to provide scientifically valid and legally defensible protocols for conducting skeletal trauma analysis. Chapters are supplemented through practical applications, illustrated by macro, micro, radiological, and other imaging modalities.

The book also covers:

• Integration of biomechanical engineering principles with forensic anthropological methods for understanding and interpreting mechanisms and contexts of traumatic events
• An in-depth evaluation of laboratory approaches to skeletal trauma analysis and its methodology
• A specialized focus on identifying, processing, documenting, and interpreting pediatric skeletal samples
• Strategies for preparing accurate and defensible forensic reports and delivering effective expert testimony on skeletal trauma findings in legal proceedings
• The broader contexts of skeletal trauma, including the qualifications needed for its study, its role in public health and improving the human condition, and mechanisms for mitigating potential harm to well-being and mental health from repeated exposure to it.

Part of the Wiley-AAFS series, this reference serves practicing forensic anthropologists, medical examiners, coroners, and biomechanical engineers conducting trauma research. It also supports graduate and advanced undergraduate courses in forensic anthropology, forensic pathology, and forensic medicine where skeletal trauma analysis is a core component.

Donna C. Boyd, Ph.D, D-ABFA, is Eminent Professor of Anthropological Sciences at Radford University, Director of the RU Forensic Science Institute, Professor of Basic Science Education at Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine, a board-certified forensic anthropology consultant for the Virginia Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, Vice-Chair of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences Academy Standards Board’s Anthropology Consensus Body, and a member of NIST’s Organization of Scientific Area Committees (OSAC), Anthropology subcommittee.

Julie Fleischman, Ph.D, D-ABFA, is a board-certified forensic anthropologist at the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences in Houston, Texas, and Chair of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences Academy Standards Board, Anthropology Consensus Body.

Sara Sochor, Ph.D, is the Anatomical Donations Coordinator for the University of Virginia’s Center for Applied Biomechanics and a Medicolegal Death Investigator for the Virginia Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.